Peter Fraser

Peter Fraser (28 August 1884-12 December 1950) was Prime Minister of New Zealand from 27 March 1940 to 13 December 1949, succeeding Michael Joseph Savage and preceding Sidney Holland. He was a member of the New Zealand Labor Party.

Biography
Peter Fraser was born in Fearn, Highlands, Scotland in 1884, and he went to London in 1907, where he became influenced by the ideas of the Independent Labor Party. Unemployed by 1910, he moved to New Zealand, where he arrived in 1911. He joined the New Zealand Socialist Party, and later that year became president of the Auckland General Laborers Union. He led a number of unsuccessful strikes and was active in the seamen's and coalminers' strike of 1912-1913, getting arrested. As Secretary of the Social Democratic Party of New Zealand from 1913, he was closely involved in the establishment of the Joint Conference of 1916, where the New Zealand Labor Party was created. Later that year, he was imprisoned for twelve months for his opposition to conscription.

In 1918, he was elected to the House of Representatives, where he became a brilliant performer. The once-militant party member gradually became more pragmatic, accepting the undesirability of the nationalization of land and the benefits of industrial arbitration by the late 1920s. After 1935, he became Minister of Education, of Health, of Marine, and of Police, and he became well-known for his educational reforms. He performed the functions of Prime Minister for the ailing Michael Joseph Savage from August 1939, whom he succeeded after his death.

Fraser led New Zealand during World War II, despite a critical parliamentary opposition and a suspicious trade union movement. He cooperated greatly with John Curtin's Australian Labor Party government in Australia, though the two men disagreed about the use of hteir forces given the threat of a Japanese attack, with Fraser accepting US advice that it was best to retain the New Zealand forces in Europe and leave the home defense to the USA. He received international distinction ofr his role in the establishment of the United Nations. Even though he had been a supporter of much greater powers for the organization, he was instrumental in drafting its policies on former colonies which were to be prepared for independence as "trust territories". He only narrowly won the 1946 general election against a revived New Zealand National Party under Sidney Holland. Thereafter, his pragmatism made him increasingly out of touch with the party rank and file. Against strong opposition among his own supporters, he held a referendum which agreed to compulsory military training in peacetime. Worn out and divided, his party lost the 1949 general elections, and Fraser died in 1950; Walter Nash succeeded him as Leader of the Opposition.